SmokinDriver: Blog

I've posted the first chapter in my next story "17th Birthday" It is a coming of age story. I plan to post five chapters a week and should finish posting all 19 chapters in the month of February.

Thanks for taking the time to read.

SD

I guess that magical amount of time has gone by when people wonder if you will be posting another story. I've had a few emails over the last week or so checking on my status.

I've actually written on complete story and completed book one of a new series. Both have been sent to my editor but he's been busy so I'm not pushing him to meet any schedule like I did with the last series. I haven't started posting the story so I'm not worried about gaps in reading for those following the story. If I haven't heard back by Christmas, I'll give him a call.

I'm currently writing book two of the new series and if I like it when I'm done, I'll send it to the editor as well.

SD

Lazeez spends many hours and dollars to set up and maintain SOL. Between my editors and I we spent over 2000 hours writing and editing a story. Then you get an anonymous note:

From: Anonymous <anonymous@storiesonline.net>
To: smokindriver@yahoo.com
Sent: Wednesday, July 17, 2013 7:13 PM
Subject: Re: Hindsight 20/20 Book 3 - Chapter 18 - {SOL Feedback}

good story and series until you turned them into
pedophiles and child molesters/rapists in the last
few chapters.

I guess some people can't feel good about themselves unless they put someone else down. Why are there fewer authors stepping up to put their work out there for you to enjoy? I can't respond to this person Mr. anonymous by e-mail so I will reply here. I'm sorry this wasn't the story that you'd hoped it would be. Have a great day and I hope you find what you're looking for.

SD

The last chapter has been submitted for posting. Thanks to my editor ImageGreen for all of his help. Thanks to the others that have helped read or edit along the way.

Thanks to all of the people that have read the story and I hope you've enjoyed it. It has been a labor of love.

SD

Feedback from readers:

There have been a few blog entries lately around readers and the feedback that authors get. I have made some observations for whatever its worth. For every thousand people that read a story there is one that will take the time to comment. I think that is pretty lame for the free stories. I recently read a story that I really liked and wrote the author to tell her. She wrote back and thanked me but told me that she quit writing because she never got any feedback on her stories. All of her stories are scored in the 8+ range so obviously somebody besides me liked them.

More and more authors are not posting on sites like SOL because they can make some money posting on other sites. An encouraging word might be the thing that keeps them posting here for you, for free. If you have a criticism, most authors want to hear about it but instead of biting the hand that feeds you, it might help to frame your suggestions in a positive way or mention the things that you like along with the suggestions.

If you feel the urge, send an encouraging e-mail to another author that you might like to write another chapter or another story for you.

SD